It’s been a while since my last post. After a series of
introspection and a rollercoaster ride of mixed emotions, I feel more depressed
than ever, hence more ready to blog. Not really an ideal way to start the year
but who wants ideal anymore? Nothing
in life is ever ideal. Shit always happens whether we like it or not. And this
is me at the peak of a self-proclaimed meltdown talking.
But tears are hard to come by as far as my biological makeup
is concerned. I just couldn’t bring myself to tears the way telenovela
actresses do. Somehow I feel amazed that some could even manage to choose from
which eye a tear shall drop. It only makes me feel more abnormal. I shed tears
profusely at every yawn and yet couldn’t even shed one whenever I feel like my
heart or mind is about to explode. I remember Cameron Diaz in the film The Holiday. Her inability to cry
frustrated her so much that emotions do not seem to be in her bloodstream. I
know how that feels. Probably a psychologist should be on my speed dial. I’m
not going crazy. Not so soon I hope.
Which is why I recall that one moment that’s forever
embedded in my memory. That one moment: a cab ride from point A to a point of
immense uncertainty. Marie and I were on our nth move and the gloomy night sky couldn’t be a more perfect
backdrop. Despite our steady jobs and daring ways of seizing life goals, the
universe conspired to accumulate all our worries together and pack our cab with
one fiery ball of emotions bursting at the seams. We found ourselves hopping
from one place to another searching for a flat (as I have shared in my previous
blog entries). Our requirements were simple. It should be: accessible to both
of our offices, affordable enough not to drain our salary, and preferably
sharing it with fellow Filipinos. Easy? Nothing is as easy as it sounds. That
and all the other little things that added up.
Inside that cab I felt both secure and vulnerable. The
small, comfortable vessel lent us its transient warmth amidst the chaotic
scenarios in my head. I couldn’t exactly remember what Marie and I were
discussing about at that moment. Her words turned into garbled sounds that I
heard not with my ears but with my whole being. Like an echo of a man slipping
away from a tunnel deep underground, it sounded so daunting that I almost did
not want to listen. I had weird imaginations of myself staying over at our
atelier, sneaking after work hours to use the restroom for a shower before
sleeping at the wooden flooring accompanied by frothy gowns that make my
reality turn into fantasy, and vise versa. Paranoia got the best of me. I guess
I was somewhere between a near state of astral projection and a progressive
stage of delirium that I found myself shedding a tear. Oh my gosh, I am human.
Marie shook me as if to wake me up from a coma. I looked at
her eyes and saw in her a three-part persona: A dear friend who’s always ready
to hand over a hankie to cry on; A partner in crime who conquers dreams with an
equal audacity and such firm resolve; And a comrade in battle, who’s always
willing to save a wounded soldier like myself.
If not for her, I might not have recalibrated my emotions
the way she did. For that I am forever thankful. The universe really has its
own way of aligning and realigning things. Because while I am in my current
state of misery, I am making this little tribute to my great friend. A superb
coincidence or just impeccable timing? Anyways, thank you Marie*! After all, today
is your birthday.
Oh, and Cameron Diaz’s character did weep towards the end.